Lifeless
by Justawish
Summary: Ryou is stuck with an alcoholic yami, when a serious incident occurs, with all the evidence pointing to Yami Bakura. what happens if it wasn't actually his fault Ryou ended up in a coma? But as Ryou's life hangs in the balance, can anything save him?
1. Chapter 1

My yami smiled as I stepped through the door, out of the pouring rain. It was clear he was drunk, as he was most of the time now.  
>"Ra, rah, Ryou!" He frowned as he stumbled drunkenly on the word, and smiled crookedly once he pronounced my name correctly.<br>"How was your day, Yami?" I smiled sweetly at him, trying to stay on his good side. He was more unpredictable when he was happy-drunk than he was when he was upset and drunk. At least, then I knew he'd beat me up.  
>"Marik didn't turn up." He was disappointed in that. His drinking pal usually turned up for a day of sitting there, drinking whatever I'd managed to buy for them that time. Alcohol was expensive and I was lucky if they didn't ask for ID. I was luckier if they spent the day at Marik's. Then, if they were sick, I didn't need to clean up.<br>"Oh." My answer was blunt and unsurprised. Marik had been in school today, a rare treat. And sober, even rarer.  
>"I guess he didn't want to share." Yami stood up for a few moments, swayed, and then collapsed again.<br>"Hmm." I smiled internally. At least he was drunk enough to leave me alone tonight. I screamed, however, when Yami's hand grabbed my arm, his fingernails caught the slashes in my arm, and pain shot through me. I stepped away from him quickly, easily pulling my arm out of his loosening grip, the alcohol making him easy and somewhat easier to deal with than he was most nights. He was drunk enough that I could cook myself something and then head upstairs without him throwing knives at me. I winced at the dark memory.  
>"You, Ryou, wha?" He was falling asleep already, my scream had been a sick lullaby to him.<p>

I stepped further away from him, and bent to pick up a not-quite-empty bottle of vodka, and two empty bottles of some substance he'd managed to pull the labels off. Both smelt horrific. I padded in to the kitchen, and set to cooking something easy and fast. I wanted to be out of the way long before he woke up. Once I was done, I'd lock my bedroom door and be out of his way if he wasn't quite sober when he regained his consciousness.

Once my meal was finished with, I washed the plate and set it quietly in the cupboard, out of his way. The vodka sat on the counter, it's little lid had been lost somewhere in the lounge, but I didn't dare disturb Yami again. I tapped the bottle with my fingernails, and found myself grasping it, taking a mouthful and swallowing the wickedly bitter drink. The taste stayed in my mouth as I stood, staring at the very first alcohol I consumed, bar a glass of champagne to be sipped at on New Year, and thought something that disturbed me.  
>He's taken over my life.<p>

Yugi, Honda, everyone mentioned the drunken demon I kept hidden from the world like he was something dirty, to wash off your hands after you'd left it in the bin. And I had to live with it. Taking another mouthful, I looked through the door, at where he lay in a drunken sleep, and screamed.  
>"I hate you! You have to take everything I have away from me! I hate you! I hate you!" I pointed my empty hand at him like I could curse him, but gave up after all my outburst resulted in was some inaudible muttering from him, and tears from me.<br>I took the bottle upstairs, and sat legs crossed with the bottle cradled in my hands as I cried, taking a mouthful as I wanted. Nobody cared. Nobody wanted to know. And nobody actually asked how I dealt with him.  
>Maybe I didn't want them to.<p>

Once the bottle was empty, I dropped it on to the floor and stumbled to the bathroom. My hair was still damp, sticking up slightly more than normal, but I stared at my reflection, clearly drunk out of my mind. I was a freak. White hair and brown eyes, I stuck out like a sore thumb and I was most likely only tolerated through pure politeness.

That was when the alcohol overwhelmed my every sense, and I passed out in one of my Yami's favourite places to do so, the bathroom floor.


	2. Chapter 2

A foot in my ribs. That's what woke me up. As I stared in to the pale bleary morning, there wasn't anything there besides a pale background and what looked like... bare feet leading up to trousered legs.

"Ryou!" My Yami's voice triggered a hammering headache. I slid to sit up. I realised then I was in the bathroom, on the floor. The memory lead to me cradling my aching head

"Ryou! You drank the last of my vodka!" His voice snaps me out of my daydream.

"I... paid for that." My voice drags out the words so that they're annoyingly long and groggy.

"Hikari! Wake up!" My brief courage leads to another kick in the ribs. "What lead you to fall asleep on the floor, there was only, what... Four or five shots left. You would never pass out on the floor, stupid snob."

"I didn't think you... you'd come up stairs. You passed out when I got in." My voice is quiet, but that doesn't prevent him form bending and screaming in my ear.

"NEVER TOUCH IT!" I nod, trying to stop him from getting any vague form of satisfaction from the bullying. I can't prevent myself from howling in agony as he kicks me harder, and then yanks my head up by my hair. "You need to respect me, little one. We can't have you trying to get out of your responsibilities." On the final few words, he takes a disturbing amount of pleasure in jabbing an elbow in to my neck.

He loses interest as a knock on the front door drifts up the stairs.

"Go greet your friends, we don't want to be rude, Ryou." He managed to drag me up by my hair, and also throw me towards the bathroom door in a single brutal motion, making me scream.

"Ryou, are you okay in there?" Yugi's voice caused my Yami to mutter something explicit under his breath, undoubtedly about Yugi's Yami interfering with his plans. I decided to ignore his questions as I grinned and opened the door. I rubbed my eyes as the light flooded in from the outside, just to ensure any tears were far away.

"Hey!" I was surprised to see them.

"Ryou, what did he do to you? You look terrible." Yugi's Yami stepped in protectively, causing Yugi to pull a face that can only be described as frustrated.

"I'm fine. He didn't do anything... I just couldn't sleep." That was a complete lie. I opened the door further, meaning to let them in, without realising I was still in my uniform from yesterday

"Ryou, what did he do?" Yugi, grasping my forearm. If he was any other person, he would have held my shoulder, but due to his height that was an impossibility.

"I'm fine, Yugi." My Yami cooed from up the stairs, mocking me as he dangled the bottle I'd emptied the night before on his finger. The pharaoh muttered something almost as explicit as my own Yami's previous mutterings.

"You got drunk?" Yugi's eyes bulged. Sure, people got drunk on a regular basis at one of Honda or Jounouchi's parties, but I never touched the stuff. I lowered my head in a vague form of shame, only to have my shoulder tapped by a pale finger.

"Oooh, everyone feel sorry for the poor, lonely Ryou! Nobody loves him enough to take him out to get pissed, so he has to get drunk on his own." The mocking voice grated on me, and I shied away, pushing my back against the wall.

"Bakura, leave the boy alone." Pharaoh hissed, making the white haired demon sneer.

"Leave him to fight his own battles, your highness." He used the title even more mockingly than he mimicked my voice. Yugi tugged my arm so as if the pair lapsed in to a brawl, I would be out of the way, but I pulled out of his grasp.

"I'm not weak, Yugi. I won't let him just..." I attempted to defend myself, but my Yami stepped in before I could finish.

"Yes, Yugi, stay out of matters you're not involved in. " He pushed Yugi out of the front door, knowing the Pharaoh would protect Yugi before me, and would step outside to defend him, allowing Bakura to slam the door in their faces. He locked it quickly, and tossed the key away from me so I couldn't reach.

"Now then, Hikari. You know how we treat friends here, and this is no way to treat them, is it? Shameful behaviour." I could tell what was coming. I was going to be stuck alone, being tortured because he knew Yugi wouldn't let his Yami smash doors any more. It was only now I could smell the rancid reek of yesterdays booze on him. I felt sick as I tried to step away, but the wall in my way stopped me from going anywhere before he could grab my hair. I almost screamed, but stopped. If I screamed, I'd only make him happy. Never mind the fact Yugi was outside. I was left to whimper slightly as he took great pleasure in pulling me up the stairs by my hair.

"Hmm..." A sick expression of glee on his face made me grimace before he produced a wicked knife from somewhere. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for agony. Something stopped him before the knife broke my skin, whatever spot he had chosen. I wasn't prepared for what happened next. I thought he might decide upon shouting as my punishment. But a punch that sent me reeling to the floor made me knock the vodka bottle down on the the stairs, shattering it. I glanced down at the stairs closest. A handful of small shards glittered before I realised something terrible.

There's only one staircase, and he won't clean that glass up himself.

Then I screamed as he thrust the knife in to my arm. Roses bloomed on the carpet as he shook my blood off the knife, making some of the shards shimmering rubies before he dragged me to the top of the stairs by the blood-drenched arm.

"Stand up, Ryou! It's respectful." He sneered as he yanked my hair. I stood up, clutching my arm before I guessed what he was about to do.

"No! Please!" I screamed louder than I'd screamed before, as he shoved me down the stairs. I felt the glass tear at my back and my own weight snap bones as I tumbled, becoming silent half the way down. Twelve broken bones, uncountable cuts and bruises, and a single broken mind was all that I'd become as my body fell, seemingly lifeless on the floor. Small shards of glass were in my hair, giving a twisted hint of glamour to the ruin. Two people started laughing. The one who had pushed me laughed heartlessly, but the happiness didn't show on his face, whereas the other, over the other side of town, laughed manically. Both of them were overjoyed I had, supposedly, died.


	3. Chapter 3

Well... Thanks Anonymous lizard and lady Alexas for your reviews (Plus Courtnelia and Lauraline for forcing me to write the damn thing, even when I forgot to save and lost all enthusiasm (on top of the unsaved 600 words). This chapter was originally both chapter 3 and 4, but when I read through, it made more sense for it to be one chapter. Please don't eat me for being late.

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><p>Yami's POV<p>

I frowned at Yugi when things went silent, apart from the laughter. Yugi glanced about, considered, and finally nodded. I would have smiled, but this was almost certainly a matter of life and death for my lights friend. I hammered on the window before Yugi brought over a stone. Smashing one of the front windows was hardly the best plan, but it was certainly faster, and more reliable, than hoping on the back door. I stepped quickly to stand in front of the large window that led to Ryou's front room.

The stone shattered the glass in seconds, and Yugi had already removed his jacket to prevent the glass cutting anyone who wanted to climb through, namely myself. I clambered through, and was horrified to see the smaller silver-haired boy lying on the floor, covered in shards of glass. Most were embedded in cuts that were bleeding heavily. That had not come from my small but necessary act of vandalism on the window.

"Yugi, phone an ambulance. I think he must have smashed that bottle, and pushed him down the stairs." I glanced behind me, spotting the blonde boy as he attempted to climb in to the house.

"He's gone, he's dead. There's nothing you can do!" The demon stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at me as I attempted to check Ryou's pulse. He was breathing, but the gasps were too far apart, and the body stirred as if it hurt every time. Yugi knelt beside me once he'd finished with Ryou's phone.

"He's not dead, Yugi, he..." I felt my voice dry up as I heard a siren in the distance. 'Please, Ra, don't let him die.' My thoughts were echoed by Yugi's words that were split by sobs.

"He's got to be okay, Yami, we can't let him die." The small boy nuzzled in to my side, unable to bear the sight of his friend any longer. I put my arm down, stroking his hair gently.

"He's not going to die, " I murmured. I prayed my words were as confident as I wanted them to be, but at the moment, I couldn't take my eyes off the horror the demon had put the white-haired boy through. Any encouragement my words might have had for Yugi, it was lost entirely on Bakura. The fiend had disappeared, but I could hear him speaking upstairs. Nobody else had been in the house, had they? Ryou's father couldn't be home, or else he would have spoken up when the boy had screamed. What if the fiend had done something terrible to him, too?

"When the ambulance gets here, go with him. I'll meet you at the hospital when I can." I gently tugged my hikari away before I stood up. The glass on the stairs had, unfortunately, mostly been collected by Ryou's body as he'd fallen. Yugi gripped his hand and sobbed as I made my way up, glancing around for the fiend.

I stepped around the staircase cautiously, as if somebody would jump out of one of the rooms and attempt to push me down, as they had done to poor Ryou.

I heard Yugi speaking to Ryou. Something about the key, the key to the front door. I presumed he'd found it, because when the ambulance finally arrived, there was no mention of windows. I watched silently from the window as they carried Ryou's body out on a stretcher. From here, I could see how he had assumed Ryou to be dead. The boy was even paler in comparison to the scarlet that spotted his skin. Yugi followed shortly after, hurrying to get in before the ambulance sped away.

I suddenly felt a feeling similar to when Honda and Jounouchi had dropped ice down my shirt, but not quite real. Like people claimed to get when they felt like they were being watched from behind. I spun around, expecting Bakura to be stood there. But there was nothing. Stepping back out of the room, I had to search before I noticed the open door leading to Bakura's room, with an open window looking out above the garden. Had he sprung out of the window, risking broken bones and other ridiculous injuries just to avoid me? No. He'd love a fight with me. He wasn't stupid enough to jump out of an open window.

"Get out here now!" I shouted, angry at being avoided so easily. I stepped in to the Demons bedroom. It was so obviously his. The walls were covered in pictures of Ryou, or knives. Ryou crying, Ryou bleeding, Ryou bruised and unconscious. And then there was the body of the demon that had almost murdered his own hikari. He was unconscious, a bruise already forming on his jaw and bite marks up and down his arms. I felt sick.

Clearly, it wasn't his fault. Somebody else had been sick enough to abuse an innocent boy.

Yugi's POV

Words like 'Suicide attempt' and 'blood loss' flew around the ambulance. I sat there and stared at Ryou's hand. His face was mostly obscured by an oxygen mask.

The paramedics would look at me with pity as I clutched Ryou's hand, like it would keep his soul right there in his body. I started crying when his eyes opened. He looked at me for a moment, and I could almost hear his voice, but the mask hid his words as well as his face. His chest suddenly heaved, and then his face scrunched in agony. The paramedics words were lost as I stared at him.

"Please don't... don't let him die." I whispered to them as we stopped, and I had to let go of his hand. I declined tea and coffee, and eventually, the nurses just started to ignore me. I sat in the corridor, nobody considering telling me about what injuries were making him so ill.

Suicide attempt. They thought he'd attempted suicide. I cried until I was out of tears. Yami had wanted to get him out of the way of Bakura, just so he could stop the abuse that had scarred my friend.

"Yugi?" Honda's voice was quiet. Jounouchi was next to him, looking down at me.

"Did Yami call you?" They nodded. "They took Ryou away. They think he attempted suicide. He... Bakura pushed him down the stairs." I wiped my eyes with a tissue Jounouchi offered out to me.

"Yug, Ryou is going to be okay. It might take time, but he won't die." Jounouchi offered as the pair sat either side of me.

"Bakura always pulls through, doesn't he?" I could tell Honda didn't believe in his own words.

We sat there for hours in silence before anyone spoke again. All three of us occasionally walked off for a reason none of us needed to explain.

"Does his father know?" Honda asked at one point. I shook my head.

"What help will that do? He'll send Ryou in to therapy; it's not his fault, okay?" I insisted. My temper was short because of the pressure on me. I had to be there for Ryou. I couldn't just walk away from him when he needed help. He'd ran away from the abuse, only to go back and face more. His father had never known about any of that.

"He's going to find out. He... we can't just let him come back to find his son in hospital and Bakura in his place." I frowned at him, knowing he was speaking far too much truth to be good.

"It doesn't matter now. All that matters is whether Yami can deal with him now, and that Ryou is okay." I said, steeling myself. I could see he wanted to say more, but instead he stood up.

"Do you want anything? I'm getting some tea." He asked without looking at me. I shook my head before he walked off.

"Yugi?" I glanced up at my Yami, before he sat beside me, and took my hands in his. He looked desperately disappointed with himself.

"Did... did he beat you?" I asked, scared that a game had been used to decide the fate of one of my friends.

"No. He... He can't have been doing that alone. I heard him speaking when we were downstairs with Ryou. I don't know who it was, but that Baka was knocked out in his room. The other person must have jumped out of the window." He seemed to be hiding something else from me. "The boy has been through a lot more than we thought. There are pictures on the walls of that fiends room." I could imagine the pictures were similar to the horror that we'd seen earlier. Tears flooded my eyes, and I buried my head in my Yami's chest. Things were not looking good.

Yami's POV

I sat in the corridor, stroking my partners back as he cried. Time dragged itself out. My thoughts flickered back to the scene in Bakura's room. Knives on the wall, and photographic proof of what those knives could do to the poor Ryou. Jounouchi and Honda showed up after a while. Greeting me with a nod, and apologising when they said they couldn't stay. It was getting dark now, and I didn't blame them for not wanting to stay.

Not much changes for what feels like hours. As I watch the sun set through the gap in the blinds, and darkness falls, Yugi begins to extract himself from my side. A nurse, obviously on her way out of the hospital after her shift, spots us.

"Excuse me, but who are you waiting for?" Her voice is polite and quiet as she offers a smile at the tear-stained Yugi.

"R-Ryou Bakura." He says, wiping his eyes again. Her face darkens, as if .

"I'm sorry, but Ryou isn't going to be in any state for visitors until morning, at least. He's suffered a large collection of rather serious injuries." She bites her lip as Yugi asks her one final question.

"He's going to be okay, isn't he?"

She seems to be clueless on how to answer the question for a while, but finally, she nods slightly.

"Yes. He's had to undergo some life-saving surgery on his ribs and spine, but once that's all over, he should be just fine."

She doesn't seem to believe her own words, but we leave anyway. The early summer evening wafts us with a gentle breeze as I lead Yugi out of the hospital.

"There's nothing more we could have done today, other than get him out of there. But we weren't to know that would happen." My words made my partner look up as we started walking back home.

"Visiting hours start at nine. We need to make sure he's okay." He whispered in reply, not quite believing his own voice there. I bent and kissed his forehead. It seemed like the most reassuring action I could do.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello! This chapter's quite a bit shorter than the two previous, but do not complain. I'll probably be updating in ~the next two days. Definitely before Saturday.

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><p>Yugi's POV<p>

The worst part was before we stepped through the door. Yami held the door open for me, silently studying my face as I stared through at the closed blinds. I briefly wondered if Ryou would be awake. My thoughts were answered once I gathered the courage to step through the door. There was a doctor over the far side of the bed, injecting something in to Ryou's arm. I couldn't breathe as I studied the scene in front of me. Tubes led up his nose, in to his arms, beneath the sheets that covered his body, which was a state in itself. His skin was paler than normal, many of the cuts had stitches. The huge stab wound in his arm was bandaged. The other arm was in a plaster cast. His face was covered in scratches, and the tube was taped to one of the few places on his cheeks that wasn't scratched. Then I gasped as I realised.

They'd cut off most of his hair. The hair that had been the only thing he could hide behind during his beatings. The doctor looked up at me once he was done with whatever he'd been injecting.

"He's fallen in to a coma. I'm sorry. He wasn't out of surgery until the early hours of this morning. They had to cut his hair because of the glass. It was too dangerous." His face was shadowed.

"What- What's wrong with him?" I asked, and Yami's reassuring hand on my shoulder was the only thing that stopped me breaking down completely.

"He broke seven ribs, his arm, a hip, and quite a few bones in his legs. There was a lot of blood loss on top of that. This was quite an elaborate suicide attempt that could have killed him if nobody had found him." That stunned me.

"He... He didn't attempt suicide." My voice was a strangled whisper. The doctor gave me a look, and gently turned one of Ryou's wrists over, revealling raised scars that were both Ryou's own work, and his Yami's sick torturing.

"Please don't tell me you expect us to believe that we wouldn't notice these." He points to the scars, looking up at me. My Yami lets go of my shoulder, and grasps my hand.

"Leave him alone! He's done nothing wrong! He's suffered more than you can imagine. He didn't do those!" Yami argues for Ryou, but he doesn't move. It's true, then. He's in a coma.

"Who did, then? Surely the person who did this has been dealt with? Or was it their fault that poor Mr Bakura is in his coma?" The doctor is a contradiction. A hypocrite as he stands up and walks, leaving me and Yami alone with Ryou.

"I'm sorry, Ryou." I murmur, ever so quietly. "It's my fault." I feel the first tears tumble down my face, opening the way for more as Yami pulls me in for a hug.

"It's not your fault, Yugi. None of us could have known this would happen." He wipes away my tears, before he sits me down in one of the chairs by Ryou's bed and kneels in front of me.

"It is. We could have stopped all of this. I could have made him get rid of that ring before Bakura got a body. He could have stayed with us when Bakura did get a body. We could have made Bakura a... a good person." I broke down in to complete emotional ruin. Yami took hold of my chin.

"You know Ryou wouldn't have let us. He valued that ring. He liked that damn bastard that came with the thing. He's not weak. He's just never had a chance to get strong."

Ryou's POV.

It's dark. I can't see. I can't move. But I can hear Yami and Yugi talking about me. I can feel the throbbing agony from injuries I can't see.

"We could have at least..." Yugi has been crying. His voice is shaky. Yami's voice is quiet, but still the same as always.

"There's nothing we can do, besides wait for Ryou to wake up." I hear him say. But I am awake! I'm right here, but I just can't move! I try to kick and scream, but nothing happens. I can't even open my eyes.

"There's no knowing how long he'll be like that... we could get some flowers or something." Yami's voice pipes up again The suggestion is something to get Yugi away from whatever is scaring him. And that is obviously me. Or my body, or corpse, or whatever.

And then I'm alone again. Just like that. Because nobody can stay with what seems like a dead body for long, and I would know, because it's almost identical to how my mother died.


	5. Chapter 5

I know I said before Saturday, but it's here now. And jeez it's getting thrilling now. OOOH yes, Puzzleshipping and Tendershipping in here. Nothing completely lemony, but I feel like I should warn you before you squee your panties off.

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><p>Yugi's POV<p>

Weeks passed. They were painful in a way that none of us had experienced before. More painful than the weeks we'd been waiting for Ryou to come out of hospital because of any of his previous beatings. This was the worst. The worst and the most torturing. We barely knew he was alive. He was never alone, during the hours he was allowed visitors, we'd take shifts. Honda and Jounouchi, me and Yami, Anzu and Duke, we all took turns to visit him, in pairs. Seto or Marik dropped in occaisionally, but those visits were short and awkward. There were only two chairs in Ryou's room.

As summer began to fade in to autumn, most of us became aware of the fact Mr Bakura would return soon, expecting his son to be fit and healthy, but Ryou didn't sense any of this. He didn't move, besides when one of us picked up his hand, and in a way, that was the worst part.

He avoided human contact as much as he could when he hadn't been in hospital, but here he was, never alone at all, and he wasn't doing a thing, even when the room was full of people.

"Yugi, what... what if it comes to the point where he... where there's no point in trying to keep him here?" Marik seemed to be nervous about asking this question somehow, but I was stunned that he'd even thought of that in the first place.

"It's not our decision to make, but I will fight for him if it comes to that. Mr Bakura would have to be pretty deranged to do that to his only living family member." I whispered once I'd dragged him out of the room, out of Yami's earshot. Marik left after that, seeming to be disappointed about something. His own Yami was probably speaking to him, inside his blonde head. I sighed, and walked back in to the hospital room.

"Yugi, what did you say to him?" Yami's voice sounded beaten down. He'd been keeping Bakura in our house, much to our annoyance. Bakura wasn't particularly difficult to care for, just food and booze to keep him happy, and Yami was happy enough to keep him locked in the basement.

"It's not our decision to make. But we can't let him turn the life support off." I whispered, coming to sit down beside him once again. He kissed my forehead gently, and I sighed.

"You know if that is his decision when he gets here, there's nothing we can do." He sounded so tired. He had been determined to find Ryou's real almost-killer, but he had lost almost all hope within a month. There had been nothing for him to do other than keep Bakura in the basement.

"Yes. But it can't be, he can't do that, not to Ryou." I leaned my head on Yami's shoulder, and kissed me.

"Of course he wouldn't." I could hear there was a hint of doubt in his voice he didn't want me to hear.

The next day.

I returned from the first day back at school, to see Yami heading down to where he kept Bakura.

"Hey." I smiled at Yami, but only received a nod of acknowledgement in return. I sighed, dumped my school bag on the floor, barely out of the way of the door, and wandered off to get a snack before we left to see Ryou.

"Yugi!" I heard Yami's shout before I reached the cupboard, and turned to see him sprinting to reach me.

"What? I just wanted to-" He cut me off before I could finish.

"He's gone. He's not there." Yami seemed flustered as he grabbed my arm and started tugging me to the door.

"Bakura's escaped? I thought you hadn't left the house! I thought you were going to-!" He cut me off again, an annoying habit I wished I didn't let him get away with.

"Yes, I didn't leave, but God** DAMN** it! He's outwitted me before, and he's had practice at this kind of thing." He swore loudly as he fumbled with the keys to lock the front door.

"Yami, please," I took the keys off him, locked the door easily and then allowed myself to be lifted up and hurried towards the hospital.

Ryou's POV

I didn't notice there wasn't a person in here with me until I heard a huge gasp. My father couldn't have been here! He wasn't supposed to get back until early October, but I wasn't entirely sure how long I'd been here. Only he hadn't seen me like this. The cuts had healed, the broken bones had had their casts removed and yet somebody was still shocked. I only knew this information because Yugi talked to me about how my injuries were getting better every so often, even though he didn't really know if I could hear. But this person seemed to say a whispered prayer because of my seemingly horrific condition.

I felt warm breath on my face a moment later. Warm breath that smelled of too much toothpaste. And then I felt lips pressed to mine, the mystery guests fingers touching my cheek so gently, and their lips kissing every piece of exposed skin they spotted. The lips returned to mine for the most gentle of kisses before they spoke.

"I'm sorry, Ryou. I'm so sorry." I want to scream. I want to cry. I want to kiss this mysterious person who isn't mysterious at all because they are me. It's my Yami.


	6. Chapter 6

I apologise, but I've been really busy and I lost a lot of enthusiasm for this. In a way, I don't feel like I'm doing this story justice with this ending, but I like it. I'm sorry for disappointing anybody, but I wanted to tie it all up with a cute not-quite ending. There will be one more little chapter, just as a cute, cuddly, I-love-you-so ending. And yes, tendershipping.

Yami's POV

"You were watching me." Bakura turns to see us at the door, watching him as he stares at us.

"I'm sorry." Yugi murmur. Bakura doesn't bother wiping the tears from his face. We've already seen him crying, his hard casing shattered in to invisible pieces around where Ryou's body is.

"You were watching me. You can't even let me apologise to him!" He doesn't shout, or scream. He keeps a straight face as I desperately think of how to counteract him.

"You tried to kill him!" I snap at him.

"Please tell me you don't believe that. You know that wasn't me." Bakura almost smiles at this. "Why would I hurt him? You heard everything, didn't you?"

"Well, no, but... surely the pictures were you?" I can't add it up in my head. My brain isn't working as I try to piece it together. Bakura seems relieved at something.

"I wouldn't hurt him. Why would I? What the hell would that achieve if my yadonushi died?" Bakura almost looks at me accusingly, but I still don't understand.

"Nothing, but... you mean, none of it was your fault? You didn't mean to do anything? You... weren't aware of what you were doing?" I ask.

"Not... quite. I had no control. I knew it was happening. Something took over when the opportunity arose. The alcohol was just something to make me stop. Make it stop. Make... everything... stop." He turned back to the bed. "For Ra's sake... I didn't want this to happen."

"They think he attempted suicide. We know he tried before, but..." Yugi piped up, adding information that seems to infuriate Bakura.

"I didn't want to hurt him!" He hisses, pulling Yugi up to his height via his shirt, and therefore lifting him clearly off the floor.

"Put him down!" I shout. Bakura obliges, like he knew I would say that. A nurse peers in as I pull Yugi away from Bakura.

"Is... everything okay?" She doesn't seem to know what to say about the situation, but all three of us cover for it, forcing smiles and nodding.

"Fine, thank you." Yugi coughs, eyeing Bakura with ultimate suspicion. The nurse backs out of the door, but nobody closes it behind her.

"You must know, it wasn't me, Pharaoh." Bakura says finally, once the awkwardness has almost evaporated.

"I do, thank you, thief." I mock him in return.

Footsteps entering the room make us all turn to the door.

"Marik. Hello." Bakura shoots him a wide, sarcastic grin. Mariks' eyebrows shoot up in surprise as he spots Bakura.

"I just remembered something I really need to do." Marik attempts to turn on his heel, but both me and Bakura grab his arms, and then push him in to one of the chairs as Yugi closes the door.

"Having fun with the hypnotism, 'Kura?" Marik runs his tongue across his teeth and smiles wickedly, but Bakura quickly slaps him.

"Don't call me that, ever." Bakura's eyes are cold and unforgiving as Marik stands up. Marik is about to touch Bakura's face, but Bakura swings another slap that sends Marik sprawling back in to the other chair. "I know what you made me do."

"Oh, please, 'Kura, don't tell me you actually loved the little albino hikari?" Marik sighs, and more mockery ensues in poor Ryou's room. Bakura doesn't say anything. He only speaks once his fist has made a painful, loud impact on Mariks face.

"There was no need for that, Bakura." Yugi snaps at him, but I ignore him as I work my way through Maliks head. Marik never got his own body, separate from Malik. The shadow realm will be welcoming enough for him after that.

"Malik will be okay. He might be bruised for a few days around his nose, but come on, I was not putting up with that. He called me 'Kura." Bakura smiles, and looks at where Ryou is laying. He's still unconcious, but I feel the need to check, because Bakura stares for so long.

"Yugi... come here a minute." I whisper, and tug him out of the door. "I think the Bakuras need some alone time."

Ryou's POV

I'm having a nightmare. I can feel my body shaking. I fell asleep while Bakura was here. I don't know what time it is, but I'm having a nightmare and my body is shaking. My... body... is... shaking! Suddenly I scream, and I flail out of bed and there's someone there, a blurry face I can't quite see. But it's one so familiar.

"Ryou?" He doesn't call me Hikari, or yadonushi, or anything else. He calls me by my name, in a voice he's never used around me before. "You're okay? You're awake!" He starts laughing and smiling and kissing me as we sit together on the floor, me in my flimsy hospital gown and him in his jeans and t-shirt until a nurse comes running.

"He's awake!" Bakura turns to grin at her, and I laugh, hugging Bakura as hard as I can, which isn't that hard, but he knows I'm trying. The nurse runs to fetch a doctor after she tells Bakura to put me back in my bed, but she's smiling as she leaves.

"I heard you, Bakura." I smile at him, and he blushes. "I love you too." I whisper.


End file.
